Price tag for SC nuclear plant could grow by $1B

ATLANTA (AP) — The firms building a new nuclear plant in South Carolina say their construction costs could grow by more than $1 billion.

That development is troubling for a nuclear industry trying to prove it can build new power plants without the cost overruns that plagued its projects decades ago.

SCANA Corp. announced Thursday that the firms building and designing two new reactors at its V.C. Summer plant say the utility's costs could grow by about $660 million dollars in 2007. Co-owner Santee Cooper would face a roughly $540 million charge.

Officials for SCANA Corp. and Santee Cooper say they have not accepted any financial responsibility for those costs, and the charges could change.

The plant being built in South Carolina is a sister project to another facility under construction in Georgia.